Black Mirror Season 5 Delayed Because of Bandersnatch

The buzz created by Black Mirror’s year-end special episode, Bandersnatch was huge. The ability to choose the fate of the protagonist ‘Stefan’, by making active decisions throughout the episode was quite groundbreaking for a mainstream TV show. But it seems like that was just a one-off, since the season 5 of Black Mirror is no where close to release. The funny part is that Bandersnatch is to blame for this. Moreover the series seems to be headed in a more optimistic direction in the coming season.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series executive producer and co-creator Annabel Jones has confirmed that the ‘enormous’ effort and creative time that went into the production of Bandersnatch ended up pushing back the fifth season of Black Mirror.

No confirmation has been given by either Black Mirror’s producers or Netflix about when exactly in 2019 we’ll get to see the next season of the series. In the past the series has been released close to a year apart with Season 3 releasing in October 2016 and Season 4 in December 2017. Though Bandersnatch does follow this timeline, it’s uncertain how long we’ll have to wait for the rest of the season. It’s also unclear how many episodes will be there in the coming season, since Black Mirror had moved from a 3-episode season to a 6-episode season in 2017.

Moreover, when Black Mirror returns it may have a bit of a change in attitude. New York Times quoted series co-producer Charlie Brooker admitting “We’re doing more optimistic episodes and stories, rather than just dystopian and negative ones,”. Considering the paranoia around technology these days, this may just be refreshing.